June Cupcake Hero Entry: Watermelon Cocktail Cupcakes with Cherry Vanilla Frosting

This month, the Cupcake Hero 'special' ingredient is Melon. I've never had honey dew, watermelon, or cantaloupe cupcakes, so I really had to think out of the box when it came to coming up with a melon-inspired recipe. Personally, I have to be in the mood for watermelon to really enjoy it (though it tastes yummy cold, I'm generally more of a honey dew fan), but because I admire every watermelon's fun pink color, I decided to go with it!

Watermelon has such a crisp and easily distinguishable flavor, I wasn't sure what to pair it with. It's great in fruit salads, so that was my inspiration for this month's melon challenge. I pureed fresh watermelon with maraschino cherries, then added a bit of lemon and orange zest to the mix. Because I wanted the cupcakes to have an intensely summery flavor, I also threw in some fruit cocktail juice to the batter.




The end result was a really moist and fruity cupcake with a bright orange color and lightly watermelony after-taste. Hence their other name, Sunshine Cupcakes, they taste like Summer in a cupcake. I topped them off with a homemade cherry and vanilla frosting. Instead of using plain old vanilla extract, I added a few tablespoons of this new sugary blend I recently added to my collection of baking spices - vanilla sugar. It smells ammmaaaazzing! Like your favorite candle...like a warm sugar cookie....like real vanilla! Soo delicious, it even tastes spectacular on toast.

I waited until the last minute to bake these cupcakes...and I waited until the last minute to do the Daring Bakers challenge, so sugary baked goods are all that you'll get to see on Flour Arrangements this weekend :)! But I do promise to cook up something savory soon! Expect another sweet post tomorrow :D!

Double Chocolate Razzcherry Cheesecake Cupcakes

I made these intense cupcakes yesterday, for the May Cupcake Hero challenge. Preparing everything took awhile, but I have to admit that coming up with this recipe took even longer! I wanted the cupcakes to have flavor and bite, so I filled the dense, chocolatey cupcakes with homemade razzcherry sauce (yep, that's what they're really called). I also topped them with a cheesecake-like frosting (I 'drizzled' even more sauce on afterward, because the bunny needed something soft and gooey to cushion it from the hearty frosting!).

The frosting itself contains roughly broken up pieces of bunny grahams and rehydrated tart cherries. I thought of pureeing all these ingredients together to make a smooth, rich buttercream/cream cheese frosting, but, instead, I decided to leave it chunky and thick. So it seems the frosting is a dessert in itself :) -- especially in these cupcakes, where it's 50% of the actual dessert :). I have to admit, I made more frosting than expected, but I didn't want to waste...so I used a cookie dough scooper to top the cupcakes with a generous serving of frosting. Make sure you follow all of the instructions on the recipe card below. Don't overlook the last step, where you're asked to devour the cupakes then BRUSH your teeth; these sweet and decadent cupucakes are cavity-causing ;)!

Dairy Free Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes with Kahlua Almond Ice Cream and Caramel/Cream Cheese Sauce or "frosting"

Wow...that's a long title for cupcakes that took an even longer time to make ;)! I enjoyed coming up with this fun recipe for ice cream cupcakes. It was kind of exciting trying to figure out how I'd convert a sticky toffee pudding recipe into a sticky toffee pudding cupcake recipe. Initially, I was a little worried that the cupcakes would come out a bit gooey, but with some recipe-improvising, I was able to figure out a way to give the gooey pudding a cupcakey texture. I used one less egg and substituted the butter with canola oil.

The tricky thing about making these cupcakes was the dairy free part...so when it came time to make the 'caramel cream cheese frosting', I ran into a few problems that led to unexpected discoveries! Normally I'd use heavy cream to make caramel sauce, but this time I used soy creamer. I was hoping it'd be a tad bit thicker than soy milk, and possibly serve as a nice alternative to heavy cream, but I was wrong. The soy creamer pretty much dissolved as soon as it hit the caramel colored, burnt sugar; it's almost like it took on the form of water. Strange. Anyone have any tips on how to make dairy free caramel? I could sure use 'em!

On to the unexpected discoveries... Since the caramel sauce was watery, I decided it'd have a richer taste if it was combined with something like tofutti cream cheese frosting (I've made caramel sauce in the past, but for some reason, it really wasn't working out for me this time -- I had to re-do it 3 times!). I also had some issues with the tofutti cream cheese frosting (probably because I've never made any kind of cream cheese frosting before ;) -- it turned out a little on the watery side, but all was not lost! The end result was a lightly flavored, creamy and syrupy caramel sauce that nicely complemented the rich pudding-based cupcakes and crunchy soy ice cream.

Next time I make these cupcakes, I'd like to make the soy ice cream. I don't have an ice cream maker at the moment, so I wasn't able to do it this time around. I do think I experimented enough with the cupcakes and topping, though. But I wonder how the ice cream would've turned out if I tried making that dairy free?!

I'd now like to take the time to applaud each and every talented dairy-free baker/blogger who effortlessly creates delicious treats...how do you all do it?!

I had so many of these cupcakes, and I knew my husband and I wouldn't be able to finish even half of the batch, so I thought I'd have him take another version of them to work. I knew it'd be too messy to transport the cupcakes with an entire scoop of ice cream on top, so I packed them up in a container and covered them in the caramel cream cheese sauce, instead. I then used a teaspoon to scoop a tiny serving of ice cream on top of the saucy frosting. To give them a somewhat cute look, I threw an almond on top of the dab of ice cream. They ended up resembling a big sticky mess by the time his coworkers got to them, but I love sharing baked goods with folks. Who doesn't love getting an unexpected treat at work -- doesn't it make the day go by a little faster :)? Below is a picture of the cupcakes Jose took to work, version 2 of the sticky toffee pudding cupcakes.

Ice Cream Cupcakes and The Doughboy Diaries Part II

This month, Stef from Cupcake Project is hosting an Ice Cream Cupcake Roundup with Scoopalicious. Yum! I plan on using a dairy-free ice cream, I'm still not sure if I should use soy or rice ice cream...and I still haven't figured out where to get ahold of some oatscreme! Whatever I decide to do, I have a feeling that these cupcakes will be delicious...even if I manage to mess them up somehow, I'm sure a cupcake topped with ice cream AND frosting will taste heavenly -- so long as meatloaf isn't a part of the mix :)!

Speaking of dairy-free ice cream, we've got a treat for you...it's part two of The Doughboy Diaries! My husband puts these short 'stories' together as I sit back and laugh myself to tears while I read each witty line over his shoulder. Being married to someone with a sense of humor and a big heart gives me a warm, gooey feeling inside that not even éclairs can experience!

So here's part II, enjoy! (And if you'd like to read part I...click here)

As the economy slows, the cost of food rises, and gasoline prices reach unheard of levels, the Pillsbury Doughboy continues to suffer with his much-publicized financial hardship. An amateur photo journalist shot this footage of Doughboy working a part-time job as a cupcake taster -- vegan cupcakes to be exact. Some sources have speculated that throughout his career, Doughboy may have suffered from a severe lactose intolerance, which he’s been forced to hide from his adoring fans out of a fear that it might compromise his position as a spokesperson for delectable milk and butter based morsels. It may just be that all those ‘hoo hoo’s’ weren’t innocent exclamations of joy, but cries for help from a bloated, ashamed little fella. He was too afraid to tell the world that over all the biscuits, cookies, and cinnamon rolls, he’d really just prefer a vegan cupcake.

These are the first Cupcakes I made from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. They were delicious, apart from the fact that I forgot the include the SUGAR! Sheesh! It's so funny, I was actually making it a point to pay attention to every little step in the instructions, because I wanted to see if their lowfat vanilla cupcakes have that perfect cupcakey texture I've been looking for in a recipe. (This reminds me of the many times I make it a point to put my keys in an easy-to-locate spot in my purse, but then, later, I spend even more time looking for them than I do when I just throw them into my mary poppin's-like bottomless bag!) Never a dull moment! And guess what...at the last minute I thought I'd come up with a simple but light frosting; I threw a few ingredients together, like cinnamon, pumpkin spice, vanilla soymilk, a tad bit of butter and, to my surprise, it was yummy! I didn't even notice that the cupcakes were missing sugar! Funny how this turned into a happy accident. From now on, I think I might just start using less sugar in any cupcakes I put together; the frosting provides enough sweetness for me :).

Mini Maple Walnut Cupcakes and Caponatina

One of the best things about being an adult is getting to eat dessert before dinner without having to worry about anyone saying I'm going to spoil my appetite :P! So I'm posting the dessert before the meal ;). I found this recipe in a cheap cupcake cookbook I purchased at the pharmacy last weekend. It had such cute, delicious pictures, I assumed the recipes would be just as pleasing. Well, the mini cupcakes I made didn't turn out badly, I was just disappointed that they lacked flavor and spice. I followed the recipe for apple streusel cupcakes, but I was bummed when the crumbly part melted into the cupcake batter while it baked. I'm sure I didn't measure the topping properly, I can't imagine it was entirely the recipe's fault. When I discovered that the crumble had dissolved into the batter, I'd only used a little less than half of the topping. I didn't want to throw the rest away, so I figured I'd go ahead and make an interesting frosting with the remaining crumble. These are the ingredients that went into the crumble, followed by the ingredients I used to turn it into a frosting! I should call these Frankenstein cupcakes, because I used so many strange ingredients to make a frosting that would bring these tiny desserts to life!

Topping
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 TBSP butter

To end up with the frosting I made, you'll need to divide that recipe in half then add the following ingredients to the mix. I didn't measure, I just kept adding things until I ended up with something frosting-like in texture :) <---I know it sounds really silly, but somehow it worked and folks at work even said they were delicious! Sometimes I remind myself of Amelia-Bedelia in the kitchen! (I was a big fan of hers as a kiddo, in all honesty, I could never be as fabulous as she is :D):

Frosting with Topping
1 -2 TBSP heavy cream
a few tablespoons brown sugar
1-2 TBSP maple syrup
a few more sprinkles of cinnamon
about a cup of powdered sugar

and as for the cupcake recipe (you might want to add a few extra spices, I think I should've used apple pie spice with these)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cup apple sauce
4 TBSP butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup self-rising flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

bake at 350 for about 12 minutes (for mini cupcakes)

As you can see, these cupcakes aren't exactly healthy. Just staring at the list of ingredients is making one of my molars hurt, can you feel a cavity developing ;)? Now that we've all had our sugar rush for the day, let's move on to dinner...

So my new friend Michele said it was ok to post the yummy Caponatina recipe she shared with me! I made this hearty Italian dish to go along with the chicken picatta I made for dinner this past weekend. It was the first time I tried both eggplant and caponatina. I was so happy to discover that it wasn't too difficult to make, despite its complex flavor. I divided the following recipe in half and didn't bother storing it in a jar because I had a feeling my husband and I would devour it in just two days -- I was right!

oops, I forgot to unpeel the eggplant! Can you believe I just noticed?! :D

Grandma Rose’s Caponatina Sicilian Style
2 lb unpeeled eggplant, cut into 1” cubes
½ cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
3 ½ oz. tomato paste
1 cup water
1 lb green olives, salted and pitted
2 oz jar of capers, unsalted and drained
salt and pepper to taste
1 heaping tsp. sugar
¼ cup wine vinegar

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion and celery, cook until almost tender. Remove onions and celery and place in a bowl. In same skillet, sauté eggplant until light brown. Remove. In same pan, over med flame, cook tomato paste and water, stir until dissolved. Add olives, eggplant, capers, onion, celery, salt and pepper. Mix well. Bring to a boil over high flame. Lower flame and simmer for 5 minutes. Add sugar and vinegar. Stir and cook for ½ minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Makes 2 quarts. Sterilize jars before using. Cover tightly.
Keeps in refrigerator for 6 weeks.

I found the chicken picatta recipe in a magazine I received in the mail last week! It's called Cuisine At Home, it isn't sold in stores yet; it was a free gift I received most likely for subscribing to 3 other foodie magazines. It's really great because it offers pictures along with step-by-step instructions, and some other fun cooking tips. The recipe called for 4 chicken cutlets, but I only had 5 drumsticks so I improvised a little :).

Instructions:
Well, they say you should sprinkle the cutlets with salt and pepper then lightly cover them in flour. But just a few pages away from this recipe in the same magazine was a short article that convinced me I needed to first dip the chicken in a mix of egg whites and corn starch THEN roll them in flour (I used whole-grain, it gave it a heartier flavor) seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, and a bit of parsley. It was something new I wanted to try, so I went ahead and tried it on the chicken. I was happy with the results.

So here are the rest of the instructions:
Sautee in 2 TBSP oil (they suggest veg oil, I used olive) then once the chicken pieces are browned on all sides, set them aside. In the same pan that you used to lightly fry the chicken, add 1/4-1/2 cup white wine (depending on how much chicken you're using) and 2 minced garlic cloves. Then add 1/2 cup chicken broth, 2 TBSP fresh lemon juice, 2 TBSP butter, and 1 TBSP fresh capers. I wanted a thicker sauce, so I added a bit of flour to the mix. Since I used chicken drumsticks instead of cutlets, I went ahead and placed a few lemon slices in an oven-safe platter, then set the drumsticks on top of the slices. I then poured the "sauce" on top of each lightly fried chicken drumstick. Because I accidentally got a little more caper juice in the sauce than I wanted :D, I drizzled a bit of honey on top of the chicken before placing it in the oven to bake at 350 for about 45-50 minutes. If you're using cutlets, you can go ahead and continue cooking the chicken in the pan with the sauce until it's no longer pink. Though pink is one of my favorite colors, it's not very flattering on chicken ;).

Cupcakes and Biscuits: A Carb Lover's Heaven :)

(This week's dish for "Traveling the World One Plate at A Time" is Italian. A friend let me use a recipe from her significant other's grandmother's collection, but I want to make sure it's ok to put the recipe on here first...so I probably won't be posting the dish until later this week :)

I kind of went crazy with baking this weekend...I think it's because I secretly wish I had 60 batches of cookies to bake, but now that I've jumped over that hurdle without skinning my knees too badly (there were a few accidents, but I survived them!), I have a greater desire to bake than I did before the cookie baking task was assigned to me. My husband is very happy with that, even if I do turn the kitchen into a floury disaster zone every now and then. Thankfully, I had success with Celine's (Have Cake, Will Travel) Lemon Rolls with Rosewater Filling recipe. Though I couldn't get ahold of any rosewater (I gave them a vanilla twist instead), they were still a delicious and comfort-foody dessert that hit the spot. I've never even thought of making anything other than cinnamon rolls, so it was refreshing coming across this lemony recipe. She also has a recipe for pumpkin rolls posted that I plan on making later this week, how delicious!

Saturday night, after watching the very cute movie, Ratatouille (it's such a sweet movie -- Remy reminded me so much of my witty guinea pig, Yoshi!) I decided to bake up a batch of strawberry cupcakes. Now, these are not your ordinary strawberry cupcakes, they're much more than that! With strawberry filling hidden in the center to surprise you after the first bite, and a moussy frosting that's light but fruity and flavorful, any cupcake fan will fall for these yummy and appropriately pink sweet treats. You'd never guess they were dairy and egg free -- these vegan cupcakes are close to perfect...but the frosting is kind of hard to work with, particularly if you don't have much experience working with vegan butter (aka margarine that's hydrogenated oil-free). I'm quite inexperienced! Now here's where I start making a mess of the kitchen and get frustrated as a result of my ignorance :). (Whenever I start feeling like I've made a major mistake in the kitchen, the thought of throwing my failed "creations" away really disturbs me. Yes, if it tastes horrible, I throw it out, but even that bothers me. I have this idea that food turns into money as soon as it hits the trash bag. I hate wasting!)

This is what I discovered after making a few mistakes:

1. I added way too much batter to the cake pans, and sadly, these little cupcakes sink in the middle when that happens. Next time, I'll follow the cupcake rule (usually I just make huge cupcakes that rise easily -- can't do that with these)!

2. It's best to refrigerate the frosting over night. Vegan butter melts very quickly at room temperature. Also, next time I'll refrigerate the cupcakes as soon as they're frosted!

3. These cupcakes darken quite a bit as they bake, so next time I'll be sure to check on them more ofen; they don't take 20 minutes like the instructions say (more like 15).

I decided to take a break from the cupcakes after I realized that I was getting more frosting on myself than on their sunken tops.

I opened my fridge this morning and, to my surprise, the frosting was the perfect texture! I took a bite of one of the poorly frosted cupcakes and they were delicious -- I even ate one (and a half) before breakfast :). Thanks to my husband who suggested that I let the frosting cool in the fridge over night, these cupcakes were saved :). Oooh, and as he was keeping me company in the kitchen (watching me turn into someone resembling the Pillsbury Doughboy's sister, because I was getting covered in the powdered sugar I was using to try to thicken the frosting) he surprised me with a gift :)! He ordered me a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and My Sweet Vegan! I'm looking forward to baking some very tasty cupcakes with the help of these two fantastic books that my sweet husband ordered me.

So if you'd like to make a batch of these tasty cupcakes, you can click here for the recipe.

If this entry is entitled Carb Lover's Heaven, it should have at least 2 carby recipes, right? So here it is...

Well, I came across another recipe online this weekend that I didn't have much luck with... I've been trying to find a great biscuit recipe that isn't loaded with butter and shortening. I still haven't found one worth holding on to. Sadly, I had to throw away the biscuits from the about.com recipe I used (I could literally taste the baking powder, the after-taste was even worse). Thankfully, I had enough energy left over afterward to make another batch. This time, I was determined to create my own recipe. I remembered that a dumpling recipe I used in the past called for canola oil, so I thought I just might be able to use that very ingredient in the biscuit recipe I'd be putting together. It worked! I did use some butter, just enough to give the biscuits a buttery taste... here's the recipe for these low-in-saturated-fat biscuits :).

Lightly Buttered Buttermilk Biscuits

2 to 2 1/4 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup buttermilk
3 to 3 1/2 TBSP melted butter
¼ cup canola oil
¼ tsp salt

1 TBSP butter, for brushing

Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Remove biscuits from oven, use about 1 tbsp of butter to brush on all the biscuits. Bake for 5-7 more minutes at 350, until golden.

These taste great right out of the oven with a bit of honey or jam. Store them in a plastic container and they'll be ready for you to eat the next morning with breakfast. I bet homemade gravy would taste really good with these too!

Neapolitan Cupcakes

So baking 60 different cookie recipes in 23 days isn't really as bad as it sounds, but it is pretty exhausting! I've learned so much about baking cookies, like how very important it is to give cookies their "space" on a baking sheet, which is at least 2 inches apart when the dough has 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder/soda. Here's another discovery (well, it's more like validation for my previous baking-with-butter claims), sometimes you really don't need to use 1 1/2 sticks of butter when baking 2 dozen cookies.

I know I've posted a few cookie recipes on the blog that call for as little as 2 TBSP of butter, but it seems that I can even cut down on the butter when I'm not making up the recipe; I'll still have a buttery-enough ball of cookie dough afterward. Most of the time, cookie dough needs to be chilled for so long because of the large amounts of butter that make it slippery and difficult to work with. I've found that decreasing the butter amount by up to 30-50% can make the baking process go a lot faster...and speed matters when you have less than a month to bake more cookies than you've ever eaten or even seen in your life!

After baking 20 batches, I think I have a pretty good "feel" for cookie dough, literally and figuratively, so now it's a lot easier to add the butter a few spoonfuls at a time until I get the right texture - even if the amount I end up with is significantly less than what the recipe calls for. Oh, but enough about cookies! (After the cookie extravaganza comes to an end, I will definitely post the best cookie recipes out of the 60 I baked.)

Let's talk about cupcakes! I had a fantastic cupcake at a Vegan bakery here in Austin a few weeks ago, it was a heavenly strawberry shortcupcake from Dhaba Joy! I think it's the best cupcake I've ever had, which definitely says a lot considering there weren't any eggs or sticks of butter in this sweet treat. That weekend, I put together my own fun neapolitan cupcake recipe. It has a strawberry vanilla cream frosting and a vanilla with strawberries AND chocolate cakey center. I used a basic plain cupcake recipe from Key Ingredient as my template, then I added in a few special ingredients to create the two different batters that gave these cupcakes colorful and flavorful pizazz.

The Strawberry Top
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup strawberry puree (fresh, blended strawberries)
2 TBSP strawberry jam

The Chocolate Bottom
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 TBSP applesauce (makes the cupcakes super moist!)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

Bake time 10-12 minutes at 350

I used mini muffin pans to make these little cupcakes. The chocolate and strawberry batters were prepared in separate bowls; I made sure to add the dry ingredients first and then fold in the wet ingredients. The nice thing about this batter is that it's thick, so when you pour the chocolate layer, then the strawberry/vanilla layer, they don't mix. One thing I found: it's best to add a little more strawberry/vanilla than chococlate batter, since the chocolate has a stronger taste. After the cupcakes baked and cooled for about 30 minutes, I decorated them with frosting.

As for the frosting, here are the ingredients (I don't have precise measurements for this part)
I used about
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 stick vegan shortening (non-hydrogenated)
1/2 TBSP strawberry jam
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp dried egg white powder
and enough powdered sugar to thicken the frosting at room temp.

These cupcakes taste great cold. Stick them in the fridge for a couple of hours and you'll find that they really do resemble the neapolitan ice cream they were inspired by!

Ohh...in case you're wonderin', this little cupcake picture features one from my first batch (I initially made a chocolate top, but I later found that the ones with the chocolate on the bottom tasted much better!).

Valentine strawberry cupkins

If you note the title of this entry, it appears I might've made a mistake when entering the name of these little desserts. The truth is, they are, in fact cupkins-something between a cupcake and muffin (I wasn't sure whether to call them mufkins or cupkins :). They have a cakey texture, but they don't have all that sweet, rich frosting on top. Instead, I dressed them up with a few sprinkles. After the first bite, I realized I wasn't even missing the frosting because the strawberries add just enough texture and light sweetness to satisfy a sweet craving without getting a sugar rush afterward. If you want a low-fat dessert, these are the perfect treat. Their light and fruity taste also makes them a satisfying after-breakfast snack. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chopped strawberries
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1/8 cup soy milk (any other milk is fine)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8-1/4 tsp orange zest

Bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes. I don't remember the exact amount this recipe yields, but I think it was about 10-12 cupkins. It wasn't until after my husband and I inhaled the last few that I realized I didn't count how many there were to begin with :)! Hopefully you'll want to gobble them up just as fast.

strawberry citrus cupcakes with white chocolate frosting

So I looked through my new library-borrowed cookbooks...particularly the one that's dedicated to cakes...and I was a little disappointed with the amount of butter each recipe calls for. I decided I'd just leaf through the book and "study" how much of certain ingredients they add, like baking powder/baking soda, flour, and I made sure to pay attention to what flavors they put together. I came across a blackberry lemon cake, and it looked so darn yummy. The recipe actually used jam, and then it occurred to me that I could make cupcakes that contained jam in the batter...and even citrus...like lemon. Here's what I came up with:

strawberry citrus cupcakes (this recipe makes about 15 cupcakes)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sweet condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup nonfat milk
1/3 cup strawberry jam
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 tsp finely grated lemon zest

I baked the cupcakes for about 15 to 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. They came out with a crunchy/flakey crust and a soft/cakey center...I also made a frosting for these little cakes, I wanted to make it out of strawberries since the actual strawberry jam taste of the plain cupcakes was somewhat mild. Here's what went into the frosting:

white chocolate strawberry frosting (this recipe makes about 1/2 cup of frosting) 1 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 cup strawberries, fresh or thawed
1/2 cup partially melted chocolate chips

I put a few valentine-colored sprinkles on the frosted cupcakes and they came out looking like little mushrooms! I think the picture captures their mushroom-ness :). They are so fun looking and pretty easy to make. While they baked in the oven, they filled my place with a lightly sweet aroma that made me feel even more grateful that it's almost Christmas! Holiday baked goods are the best, and though it seems these cupcakes are more appropriate for Valentine's day, they're tasty any time.